August 1, 1971 Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
Musicians: George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Billy Preston, Leon Russel, Ringo Starr, Klaus Voormann, Ravi Shankar, Pete Ham, Tom Evans, Joey Molland, Mike Gibbonds, Jim Keltner, Jesse Ed Davis, Jim Horn, Chuck Findley, Carl Radle, Don Preston , Don Nix, Claudia Linnear etc. George and Ringo appear twice (afternoon and evening) at the Concert For Bangla Desh, held at Madison Square Garden in New York in front of two capacity 20,000 crowds. During the concert George performs: "Wah-Wah", "My Sweet Lord", "Awaiting On You All", "Beware Of Darkness" (with Russell), "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", "Here Comes The Sun", "Something" and "Bangla Desh". Ringo performs "It Don't Come Easy". Outside the venue, touts are seen getting between $50 and $600 for one single $7.50 ticket. Following the concert, a celebrity party is held at the New York City night spot Ungano's. Also in attendance are The Who, currently in the city and two dates into their 1971 American tour. The star-studded line-up is treated to a live performance by George and Billy Preston and then Phil Spector, who delivers a unique version of 'Da Do Ron Ron'. This features Keith Moon on drums who, at the conclusion of the song, spectacularly kicks the drum kit (belonging to Badfinger) into the crowd. First estimates predict that a total of £100,000 will be raised from the two Bangla Desh concerts and that four times this figure will be made from sales of the concert record alone. Most of the evening concert will appear on the album The Concert For Bangla Desh, released in America on December 20 and in the UK on January 7,1972. Phil Spector carries out recordings with 44 microphones, using a Walfy Heider sixteen-track machine borrowed from the nearby Record Plant Studios. The film version of the concert, directed by Sol Swimmer, who previously directed the ABKCO films Come Together and Blindman, is suitably titled The Concert For Bangla Desh and will premiere in New York on March 23, 1972 and in the UK on July 26,1972. Incidentally, Peter Frampton, the former lead singer of the Herd, takes a private colour 8mm film of the shows. A subsequent rumour concerning John's non-appearance at the Bangla Desh concert suggests that George didn't want Yoko to sing, so John replied by saying, "If Yoko can't play neither can I" and that when John tells Yoko of George's decision, the couple had a row. John then flew to Paris while Yoko returned to England. However, only a few weeks after the show, John told a different story: "Allen Klein was putting it around that I had run off to England so I couldn't be there for the concert. But I told George a week before the show that I wouldn't be doing it. I just didn't feel like it. We were in the Virgin Islands and I certainly wasn't going to be rehearsing in New York, then going back to the Virgin Islands, then coming back up to New York and singing."